“Pelada” Secures SXSW Film Spot

The FreeStyle Life.com announces the success of it’s latest featured documentary as it is to be shown at this years South by Southwest Film Festival.

As the world turns its eyes to South Africa in anticipation of this year’s World Cup, most will overlook a truly simple message, that soccer has the ability to unite and transcend. The documentary film, Pelada, which will be featured at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival, follows 4 young filmmakers on a journey across the globe as they explore the hidden side of soccer away from the stadiums, corporate sponsors and soccer superstars.

Pelada’s genesis lies with Luke Boughen and Gwendolyn Oxenham, two former college soccer stars who didn’t quite make it to the pros. Not quite ready to hang up their jerseys, Boughen and Oxenham, a graduate of Duke’s English and Documentary Studies program, teamed up with former classmates Ryan White and Rebekah Fergusson to create an Endless Summer style documentary about soccer.

Filmed in 25 countries over a 2 year period, Pelada follows Boughen and Oxenham as they travel the world playing pick up games with everyone from inmates in a Bolivian prison to moonshine brewers in Kenya to Muslim women in Iran who play in secret. Showcasing the game in its purest form, Pelada takes a compelling look at the universality of the game and its transcendence across social boundaries and cultural divides.

With film festival season on the horizon, the filmmakers, still short the funding needed to finish Pelada, recently reconnected with another former classmate, Tommy Swanhaus. Swanhaus, founder of TheFreeStyleLife.com, a web-based media outlet for artists and their work, saw an opportunity to partner with the Pelada team and provide them with a solution to spread awareness about the film.

“Lots of great projects don’t make it to the Big Screen, or any screen for that matter,” said Swanhaus. “I started TheFreeStyleLife.com to support and bring international awareness to these quality projects, making sure these filmmakers get their story told. The website is founded around the principal of helping artists recoup some of their investment and costs through unconventional ways, both financially and emotionally.” An exclusive preview of the film is currently being featured on TheFreeStyleLife.com